East Timor

East Timor, also called Timor-Leste, is an island nation that comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the other half of which is a province of Indonesia. In 1702, Portugal colonized the island, and the island was ruled by Portugal until November 1975, when FRETILIN declared the independence of East Timor following the Carnation Revolution in Portugal. However, on 7 December 1975, Indonesia invaded East Timor to add it to their country as "Timor Timur", and from 1975 to 1998 the Indonesian occupation of East Timor was met with resistance from the FALINTIL military wing of FRETILIN. On 20 May 2002, East Timor was finally granted independence due to intervention from the United Nations, and it became the first new sovereign country of the 21st century. In 2014, East Timor had a population of 1,201,542 people, with 96.9% of the population being Catholic, 2.2% Protestant .3% Muslim, and .5% other or atheist.